I didn’t find my favorite operating system in the list of supported guests. Is it possible that this OS will run inside Parallels Workstation 2.2?
Although Parallels officially supports a specific set of operating systems as guests (see www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/os/ for a complete list), our testers and customers has found that many OSes outside this list can be successfully installed and run inside Parallels Workstation 2.2. We encourage you to download and install the trial version of Parallels Workstation 2.2, and create virtual machines running your favorite operating systems.

On which primary OSes can I install Parallels Workstation 2.2?
Parallels Workstation 2.2 can be installed on any machine running Windows 2000, NT, XP, or 2003, or Linux. You find the list of currently supported primary OSes here: www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/os/.
Support for other primary OSes is in scope for future versions of Parallels Workstation.

The Windows 95/98/ME installation process is rather slow inside Parallels Workstation 2.2. Is there any way to speed it up?
It has recently been reported that the first part of Windows 9x installation process is quite slow if the boot media is the virtual Floppy Disk Drive. However, if the boot media is the virtual CD-ROM drive, the installation process will proceed at a normal speed.
There are two possible workarounds for this problem: either boot from the bootable CD, or transfer the guest OS distributive to the HDD. The second workaround is described below:

1. Set the Virtual Machine boot sequence to [Floppy, Hard Disk, CD-ROM].
2. Boot from bootable system Floppy Disk.
3. Issue the command to partition the Virtual Machine HDD.
4. Reboot the Virtual Machine.
5. Issue the command to format the system drive C:, and others if needed.
6. Issue the command to transfer the system files to Virtual Machine HDD.
7. Issue the command to create the directory for Windows 9x distribution files.
8. Connect the CD with the Windows 9x distribution files to the Virtual Machine CD-ROM.
9. Issue command, for example:
10. Shut down the Virtual Machine.
11. Set the Virtual Machine boot sequence to [Hard Disk, Floppy, CD-ROM].
12. Boot the Virtual Machine.
13. Issue the command to start the installation.
14. After the installation is finished, the c:\w98 folder can be deleted.

How I can enable more screen resolutions in Windows guest OSes?
You need to install the Parallels Tools package in the virtual machine to enable this functionality. A Parallels Tools overview and the installation process are described in the Parallels Workstation User Guide. Browse the “Using Parallels Tools” chapter and find the “Parallels Tools installation in Windows” topic for more information.

In which guest OSes can I use the Parallels Tools?
Parallels Tools can be used in any Windows guest operating system starting from Windows 98. Currently there are no guest tools available for Linux guests. A complete tool set for Linux guest OSes is in scope for future versions of Parallels Workstation.

How do I install Parallels Workstation 2.2 on a Linux machine?
Parallels Workstation 2.2 installation on Linux family primary operating systems is described in details in Parallels Workstation installation guide on Linux. Please follow the link below to get the document: Parallels Workstation 2.2 Getting Started Guide

How do I configure Parallels Workstation 2.2 on a Linux machine?
If you experience any problems configuring Parallels Workstation 2.2 on Linux family operating systems, please follow the steps below:

1. Make sure you have all necessary packages installed:

• Sources of currently installed kernel (if you don't install kernel manually, then you should install kernel-sources package from your distribution);
• glibc [glibc]
• gcc [gcc], ld [libtool] (included in any development package)
• X Window system including:
  • xf86vidmode extension (for full screen only)
  • XKB extension (for keyboard national layouts and leds support)
• QT 3.0.5 library multithreaded [qt3]

2. If you are sure that you have installed all the packages from the list above, open configuration log file (/usr/lib/Parallels/comp.log.xxxx.error) and try to find the first error in it.

• If you have an error
  “Load Parallels Workstation 2.2 vm-main ...
  insmod: error inserting
  '/usr/lib/Parallels/Drivers/drvMain/vm-main.o': -1 Invalid module format
  Can't load vm-main module.”
  and the output for “dmesg” command appears like (but may differ in digits)
  “vm_main: version magic '2.6.13.3 586 gcc-4.0' should be '2.6.13.3 586 gcc-3.4'”
  there two possible solutions:
  - downgrade the gcc back to the previous version – it can be for some reason that kernel is compiled with the newer version and then gcc was downgraded;
  - re-compile your kernel using the current version of the gcc.
  Please note, that this is a general Linux issue. All modules to be inserted into the kernel should be compiled using the same version of gcc as the kernel has been.
• If you have an error on the Ubuntu Linux:
  “configure:2173: error: C compiler cannot create executable"
  on the Ubuntu or Kubuntu Linux, your need to install the libc6-dev package. To do it, open your terminal window and issue the following command:
  
  apt-get install libc6-dev
  When the package is installed, re-run the Parallels-config command.

I have problems with configuring Parallels Workstation 2.2 on Xandros Linux.
You should install and configure your kernel sources as described on the Xandros Linux support site, which is available at: support.xandros.com/kb-view.php?topic=79.

How can I install kernel sources for Mepis Linux?
A possible solution is as follows:

Re-run the Parallels-config command to configure Parallels Workstation 2.2.

How can I install the necessary kernel sources for the Ubuntu or Kubuntu Linux?
You are not required to install the full kernel sources package; the headers package is sufficient. To install it, open your Terminal window and issue the command:
and re-run the Parallels-config command.

I am using Gentoo Linux. I have to re-run the command every time I reboot the PC.
Add line
to the file /etc/conf.d/local.start and line
to the file /etc/conf.d/local.stop.

To restart all the drivers and to start the Parallels Workstation's ones issue the command /etc/init.d/local restart

How can I change screen resolution to 1024x768 in my SUSE 10 guest OS?
In SUSE 10 guest OS screen resolution is changed in a way different from other Linux guest OSes.
To change guest OS screen resolution in SUSE 10 to 1024x768:
1. In the config file for grub menu.lst boot loader change the VGA setting:


2. Start xmode utility with resolution and frequency parameters, to receive parameters for the record in xorg.conf configuration file:


For instance, you may receive:

3. Add the record you received from xmode into xorg.conf file.
For the instance from the previous list item the record will be:

4. Put comment signs in the beginnings of all the strings for 800x600 screen resolution. For instance:

5. Restart the guest OS.

I've powered on Virtual Machine and got a black screen with a message “No boot device available”. What's wrong?
Such situation happens when the hard disk is already partitioned but hasn't yet an Operating System installed. Check that you have your bootable and installation media connected and the appropriative Boot sequence ('CD-ROM, Hard disk, Floppy' or 'Floppy, Hard disk, CD-ROM') is set in the Virtual Machine properties.

How can I install Parallels Workstation on Ubuntu Linux?
Parallels Workstation needs some packages, which are not installed by default for successful configuration.
The full list of commands to be issued is below: